THE ATTACK ON THE GULFLIGHT
It would require many hundreds of pages to recount the details of all of these crimes against non-combatant merchant ships, and to show the relentless severity with which neutral commerce has been attacked, but the organized military measures even against neutral ships are well illustrated by the case of the American ship Gulflight, as described by the second officer, Paul Bower:
“When the Gulflight left Port Arthur, Texas, on April 10, bound for Rouen, France,” said Bower, “we were followed by a warship of some description, which kept out of sight, but in touch by wireless and warned us not to disclose our position to any one.
“At noon Saturday, May 1, we were twenty-five miles west of the Scilly Islands, a small group about thirty miles southwest of England. The weather was hazy, but not thick. About two and one-half miles ahead I saw a submarine.
Where Lusitania Was Torpedoed.
Kinsale, on South Coast of Ireland, close to Cork Harbor.
“Twenty-five minutes later we were struck by a torpedo on the starboard side, and there was a tremendous shock. The submarine had not reappeared on the surface before discharging the torpedo.
“Previous to this, we had been met by two patrol boats, which accompanied us on either side. The boat on our starboard side was so badly shaken by the explosion that her crew imagined that she also had been torpedoed. We immediately lowered the boats and left our ship and were quickly taken on board the patrol boats. But the fog increased and we drifted about all night and did not land at Scilly until 10.30 o’clock Sunday morning.
“At midnight of Saturday, while still on board the patrol boat, Captain Gunter summoned me. I found him in bed and he said he wanted some one to roll a cigarette for him. He then tossed up his arms and fainted. From then until the time of his death, which occurred about 3.30 o’clock Sunday morning, he remained unconscious.
“Captain Gunter’s speech was thick and indistinct, but we could distinguish that he wished some one to take care of his wife. The crew had always regarded Captain Gunter as a healthy man and had never heard him complain.”
Second Assistant Engineer Crist, of the Gulflight, said:
“I was on watch in the engine room when we were torpedoed, and so terrible was the blow that the Gulflight seemed to be tumbling to pieces. She appeared to be lifted high in the air and then to descend rapidly. I told the boys to beat it as quickly as possible and shut the engines down.
“Reaching the deck, I found them launching both life-boats. We got safely into them, with the exception of wireless operator Short and a Spanish seaman, who had dived overboard when they felt the shock, and were drowned.”
CHAPTER XXVI
HOW “NEUTRAL” WATERS ARE VIOLATED
[THE THREE-MILE LIMIT] — [BELLIGERENTS’ RIGHTS] — [NOTICE IN LEAVING NEUTRAL WATERS] — [EVASIONS OF NEUTRALITY.]
“A neutral has a perilous part to sustain.” So says Louis XI to his treacherous minister, Cardinal Balue, in Scott’s famous novel. The dictum is true enough even when a strong state is in question. For Great Britain the question of neutrality is of great importance in so far as it affects her on the sea. Historically, of course, neutrality is rather a modern development. Small and weak states in the earlier ages of the world had little hope of keeping themselves free from the havoc of a great world conflict. Great naval powers, such as the Hanseatic League, Genoa, and Venice, did, during the Middle Ages, succeed at times in inspiring respect for their neutrality, but it was at best precarious, and strong states rarely paid much respect to neutral waters. Early in the reign of Charles I the Dutch destroyed a Spanish fleet in the very Downs; and though Charles was master of a strong naval power he made no attempt to resent the insult. In this case, of course, there were special reasons for England’s apathy, but the incident is significant. Roughly speaking, it may be laid down as an axiom that in all the ages of history the neutrality of a state, on sea as on land, has been respected only in so far as it has possessed the power to make it so.